1920 in literature
The year 1920 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *"Hercule Poirot" makes his first appearance. *''Beyond the Horizon, Eugene O'Neill's first full-length play, opens at a special matinee at the Morosco Theater on February 2 – partly as an experiment on the part of the producer, partly to quiet the pleading of actor Richard Bennett who has demanded a chance to play the lead role. Reviewers hail the play and O'Neill becomes famous. ''The Emperor Jones is staged in November. *''This Side of Paradise'' by F. Scott Fitzgerald is published. It is a sensation, immediately establishing Fitzgerald as a writer and celebrity. Though the book's reputation will dim in later years, Dorothy Parker will recall that it was regarded as an innovative work when it first appeared. *''The Age of Innocence'' by Edith Wharton is published. *''Main Street'' by Sinclair Lewis is published. *D. H. Lawrence publishes Women in Love. *Hart Crane publishes his poem My Grandmother's Love Letters in The Dial. This is his first real step towards recognition as a poet. *Van Wyck Brooks publishes The Ordeal of Mark Twain, arguing that Twain's genius was perverted by the conditions and culture of late 19th-century America. This is the beginning of the reassessment of Mark Twain, who until this point has been regarded primarily as a humorous entertainer. The 1920s will force a reconsideration of many 19th-century writers, most importantly Melville and Dickinson. New books * Sherwood Anderson — Poor White * L. Frank Baum — Glinda of Oz * Marjorie Bowen — The Burning Glass * Rhoda Broughton — A Fool in Her Folly * Edgar Rice Burroughs — Tarzan the Untamed * Agatha Christie — The Mysterious Affair at Styles (first Hercule Poirot mystery) * Colette — Chéri * John Dos Passos — Three Soldiers * F. Scott Fitzgerald — This Side Of Paradise * Robert Frost — Mountain Interval * Zona Gale — Miss Lulu Bett * John Galsworthy - In Chancery * D.H. Lawrence — Women in Love * Sinclair Lewis — Main Street * David LINDA — A Voyage to Arcturus * Hugh Lofting — ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle * H.L. Mencken — Prejudices: Second Series * E. Phillips Oppenheim — The Great Impersation *Dowell Philip O'Reilly — Five Corners * Sigrid Undset — The Bridal Wreath * Mary Augusta Ward — Harvest * Edith Wharton — The Age of Innocence * Owen Wister — A Straight Deal * Zara Wright — Black and White Tangled Threads New drama * Karel Čapek - R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) * Nikolai Evreinov - The Storming of the Winter Palace * John Galsworthy - The Skin Game * Georg Kaiser - Gas II * Vladimir Mayakovsky - The Championship of the Universal Class Struggle * Eugene O'Neill - The Emperor Jones * Ernst Toller - Man and Masses * Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz - They Poetry *Robert Bridges - October and Other Poems *T.S. Eliot - Poems (Twelve poems including "Lune de Miel" and "The Hippopotamus") *Robert Frost - Miscellaneous Poems *Ezra Pound - Hugh Selwyn Mauberley *Carl Sandburg - Smoke and Steel *Siegfried Sassoon - Picture Show *Edna St. Vincent Millay - A Few Figs From Thistles Non-fiction *Sigmund Freud - Beyond the Pleasure Principle *Frederick Jackson Turner — The Frontier in American History *H. G. Wells - The Outline of History Births *January 2 - Isaac Asimov, author (d. 1992) *January 24 - Keith Douglas, English poet (d. 1944) *February 11 - Daniel F. Galouye, American science fiction author (d. 1976) *February 19 - Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (d. 2007) *February 21 - Ishigaki Rin, Japanese poet (d. 2004) *February 29 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991) *March 10 - Boris Vian, French novelist (d. 1959) *March 11 - D. J. Enright, English writer (d. 2002) *April 5 - Arthur Hailey, novelist (d. 2004) *June 8 - Gwen Harwood, Australian poet (d. 1995) *June 18 - Rosemary Dobson, Australian poet *June 20 - Amos Tutuola, Nigerian writer (d. 1997) *July 12 - Pierre Berton, Canadian author (d. 2004) *August 3 - P. D. James, English author *August 16 - Charles Bukowski, American writer (d. 1994) *August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer *October 8 - Frank Herbert, American science fiction author (d. 1986) *October 15 - Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather (d. 1999) *November 23 - Paul Celan, poet (d. 1970) *December 15 - Albert Memmi, Tunisian writer *December 20 - Väinö Linna, Finnish author (d. 1992) Deaths *January 2 - Paul Adam, French novelist (b. 1862 *January 4 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)) *January 18 - Giovanni Capurro, Italian poet (b. 1825) *March 15 - Edith Holden, diarist and illustrator (b. 1871) (drowned) *March 26 - Mary Augusta Ward, novelist (b. 1851) *May 11 - William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837) *May 21 - Eleanor H. Porter, American novelist (b. 1868) *June 5 **Rhoda Broughton, Welsh novelist (b. 1840) **Julia A. Moore, American poet (b. 1847) *June 14 - Max Weber, German political economist (b. 1864) * June 27 - Adolphe Basile Routhier, Canadian poet (b. 1839) *October 19 - John Reed, American journalist (b. 1887) *November 22 - Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet (b. 1884) Awards * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: D. H. Lawrence, The Lost Girl * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: G. M. Trevelyan, Lord Grey of the Reform Bill * Nobel Prize for Literature: Knut Hamsun * Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: no award given * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: no award given * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Eugene O'Neill, Beyond the Horizon * Category:Years in literature Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year Category:Years in literature